Here's the problem: Car starts 100% every time even when cold. Car then idles at around 1000rpm. I reverse out of the garage and drive down the road going up to 2000rpm whilst driving. When I stop at a junction the revs jumps down to 500rpm and then the engine stalls. After this when I press the start button the engine takes a few seconds to start. Once started I have to keeps the revs up to between 2000 and 3000rpm to keep it going untill the engine is warm otherwise it will cut out.

This problem started about 2 weeks ago and without fail when the car is started for the first time in the morning this happens. The problem does not come up when the engine is warm or if the car has been standing for 3-4hrs , only overnight.

I have cleaned the TDC sensor but this has not helped.

The Camshaft dephaser solenoid valve looks a bit dirty (oil around the base of the valve, is this normal?).

Not sure if I can help but there's a thread at the top titled "Read this first, common problems" or something of that ilk which mentions stalling when cold. It sounds similar to the problem I'm having and judging by the thread may well be the camshaft dephaser.

I've just priced the job up at an independant Renault garage and was quoted £500 + vat, the majority of that being the camshaft replacement

I "hopefully" don't think it's the dephaser as my car doesn't make a grinding of funny sound when starting. It starts normally with no strange noises. Once started if you leave it idling until the engine is hot (5-10mins) it's also fine. It's just once you get to driving (if you don't wait for the engine to warm up) it will cut out when you stop at an intersection. This also only happens if the temp gauge is between line 1 and line 2 of the temp gauge.

I'm taking my car in on the 20th April for an assessment at the Renault Workshop in my area. They're going to link it up to the computer and let me know their findings. Let's hope it's not something BIG like the dephaser!

FrancoisC,I am suspecting that the dephaser valve fails to bring the dephaser into the locked position. Somehow it does it when the engine is hot. The difference between cold and hot is related to the oil viscosity. If you carry on, the dephaser will be dead in no time...

When servicing the petrol models dealers use mineral oils, which were never designed for anything longer than 6000 motorway miles or less if in town. Do yourself a favour and use only Mercedes approved MB229.3/MB229.5 oil (search www.opieoils.co.uk for examples) and change it annually or 9-12kmiles whatever comes first. It is also important to use the OEM, Purflux (it is OEM) or Mann oil filter.

FrancoisC wrote:Hey Alex,

I bought the car 2nd hand in Jan, so I did not service it yet. It still needs to go about 6000km until the next service so I'm not sure what oil is in it currently.

Yes if I let the car stand and idle until the engine is hot it runs fine. What does that mean ?

On Wed last week the car stood in the garage for 1 day not being driven. On Thu morning the car Battery was flat! I had to have the NEW car battery recharged.Since I've re-connected the Car battery the problem has not come up since !!! The car idles fine now!

I also came across a Post that stated the Camshaft Dephaser Solenoid Valve could be the cause of the Battery going flat. I did notice when the fault was there that this Valve was making a buzzing sound even when the car was off and the car was locked! Based on that POST the fault could very well originate from a faulty Camshaft Position Sensor (In my case it could be intermittent).

My feeling is when the Battery was disconnected the Valve and Sensor rest itself and whatever was locking it in that position sorted itself out when the battery was reconnected.

Has anyone had similar "resolutions" that the fault corrected itself when the car was "rebooted" so to speak?

I'm still taking it to Renault to have it checked out, but my feeling is they might not find anything wrong with it now that it has sorted itself out!